Colonialism & The Making of a Global Scale

 

Terms

•                    Colonialism – the extension of control by one state over another state (or at least territory & its people) for the purpose of controlling its resources.

•                For all intents and purposes, it means the same thing as imperialism (although imperialism was often a contiguous territory; colonialism leaps more)

•                    Capital – anything that can be used to generate more “wealth”

•              Originally, the means of (ie things used in) production

•              In last lecture, talking of capital as investment done to generate more/new profits by saving costs, producing more and/or opening new markets

•              Also social/cultural capital, which confers trust in you as an economic actor/member of society and can be used to advance interests in some way

 

Pre-Colonial Trade

•          While it did take colonialism to create “global” trade, before colonialism their was hemispheric trade in both the Eastern (Europe/Asia/Africa) and Western (Americas) Hemispheres

•          Silk Road and Trans-Asian trade

–       Followed the grasslands from East China through Central Asia and the Middle East to Africa

•      Allowed grazing, avoiding fields

–       First opened under Roman times, primarily to get silk

•      Stabilized for last time under Mongols around 1300

•      Goods passed from middleman to middleman

–     Mostly from East to West
»     Spices (pepper), Porcelain, Gemstones
–     Higher prices further West
–     Muslim dominated; Jews of Baghdad & Cairo once Europe awakens

 

Pre-Colonial Trade (cont)

•          Caravan and Trans-Saharan Trade

–       Often consisting of thousands of camels

–       Navigated across desert using stars

–       Created a system of cisterns, often domed, to water camels

–       Carried gold, ivory across Sahara

•      Moved goods between Red Sea and Cairo, Damascus

 

Pre-Colonial Trade: The Pacific

•          There was strong intra-Polynesian trade at least from 1000-1400

–       Volcanic islands trade obsidian (used in tools) for crops from coral islands

–       Also used to relieve washed out, salinized islands

•          Also had a non-economic, ceremonial trade in gifts

–       The Kula Ring in the Trobriand Islands where necklaces are traded for armbands

–       Kept peace, gave status, facilitated trade in goods

•          Also sea trade in Indian Ocean, Caribbean Sea

 

Why didn’t Euros expand earlier?

•                    Thought boats were not strong enough to fight the contrary current off Africa

•                    The Moorish / Islamic Power in Spain (until 1492).

•                    Lost knowledge of Greeks & Romans (until renaissance)

•                    “The Great Barrier of Fear” of the unknown (monsters, barbarians)

 

 

Psalter Map, 13th Century

 

Ptolemy’s Geographia, 1492

 

So Why Did Europe Do It?

Religious and Cultural Motives

–       Christianity one of few religions where gaining of converts is one of the primary tenants.

•      Spanish especially believed strongly in the need to save souls (by any means necessary), nearly as much as they did in capturing wealth.

–        Europeans thought they represented the apex of civilization (art, music and language)

•      Considered it a gift to replace inferior cultural practices with superior European ones.

 

Why? (continued)

Economic Motives

•       From the very beginning, colonies were supposed to turn a profit.

–     Role of colonies changed as European trade went from mercantile (gold, silver, luxuries) to manufacturing (raw materials, markets)

•       Keep manufacturing competition from emerging in China and India by flooding markets

•       Create a market for goods people never knew they needed

•      Colonies, as primary produces, often varied greatly in profitability, depending on how many other producers there were.

Why? (cont)

Strategic Reasons

•          Protect more lucrative investments or home country

–       Caribbean Islands as buffer to Mexico

•          Maintain a world-wide shipping network via ports and refueling points

–       British in Aden [Yemen], Hong Kong, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Egypt

•          To maintain balance of power

–       Spain invited to occupy Northern Morocco to keep the Germans from getting it

•          Some still remain colonies, despite expense

–       Few economic resources apart from military expenditures and aid from the home country

–       Causes friction with neighboring countries

 

Why? (cont.)

Surplus Population Motive

•          A Small Number of Colonies (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) were intended primarily for settlement

–       This provided these colonies with labor to exploit resources; gave place for jobless/debtors/upwardly mobile/ troublemakers to go so they wouldn’t cause trouble

•          More often, this was an excuse for frontier territorial expansion (of U.S., Russia and Japan)

•          This pressure relief valve no longer available to newly industrializing countries

 

Why? (cont.)

•          Prestige Motive

–       May be that remaining small colonial possessions are kept to remember times past

–       In earlier times, when smaller countries like Belgium took colonies, it was probably to try to solidify their status as powers

–       As the WD authors say “No place seemed to remote or insignificant not to be fought over by the colonial powers.”

 

Two Stages of Colonialism

•          First phase (1494 to early 1800’s) – Beginning with Treaty of Tordesillas & ending with the Independence Revolutions (Haiti, US, Bolivarian)

–       Total control centered on the Americas, with many partial colonies in Asia

–       Dominated by Spain and Portugal

•      Treaty of Tordesillas divided world via a line through Brazil: West of it for Spain, East of it for Portugal

•      French, Brits, Dutch also involved

–       Huge movement of slaves from West Africa to Plantations

–       Ended as revolution spread through hemisphere & Europe began to think costs outweighed benefits

 

Two Stages (continued)

•          Second phase (mid 1800’s – circa 1960) – From the industrial revolution post-World War II

–        Perceived that industrial revolution needed raw materials, market for goods

–        Had to break the circle of the self-sufficient villages to get people to work for wages & purchase foreign goods

•      Move from use value to commoditization

–       Mostly centered on Asia and Africa

–       Dominated by French and British, with more countries involved

–        Ended following wars, budget crunches

 

First Phase: A Closer Look

•          In 1492, there were at least 70 million people living in the Americas.

•          By 1650,  due mostly due to smallpox and measles (not helped by less-than-kind Spanish policy), there were 5.6 million people

–       On some Caribbean islands every single person died

•      This was repeated (though never as totally) in the relatively isolated Pacific, but with sexually transmitted diseases

 

Three Types of Latin Colonial Land Holdings

•          Originally, mining gold and silver an important goal

•          The Hacienda – Given to European elites.  Run like feudal estate (workers often had own small plots in exchange for labor), later went to ranching

•          The Mission – run by various wings of Catholic priesthood (Jesuits, Franciscans, etc) charged with conversion of population

•          The Plantation – More efficient methods of production, cash crops, coastal, worked by slaves imported from Africa (later by wage earners without land)

•          All resulted in concentration of land/wealth into the hands of a few, establishing long pattern of inequality

–       Independence benefited local elite, the British

•      Comparatively few Middle Class strivers existed

–       Instability as competition among the few hurt economies

 

The Plantation

•          Many argue (Paul Gilroy, etc.) that the Plantation defined the new world and ushered in modernity

–       Worker discipline, record keeping pioneered in plantations (both slave and indigenous), used later in factories once techniques became efficient enough to support paying wages

•      Kept track of work record, age, sick days, rations

•      Tallied costs of every aspect of production

•      Specialized labor

–       Presented a unique set of challenges (disease, farm techniques), since these were tropical and subtropical areas unlike temperate & Mediterranean Europe

 

The Slave Trade

•          Why? – Europeans did not want to use local populations in Americas for plantation production

–       Local knowledge would allow them to escape

–       Locals died in huge numbers

–       Thought paying would cut profits, no one would willingly accept conditions

•          How did it begin?

–       Europe was already trading w/ organized coastal states of West Africa exchanging liquor, pots, mirrors, etc. for gold

–       Same African states traditionally had taken small number of slaves in battle; practice shifted into high gear once Europeans became interested in trading for slaves

 

The Slave Trade

•          Peaked in 18th century (7M)

•          Became part of Triangle Trade

–       Sugar, Tobacco, Cotton to Europe

–       Rum, Guns, Gunpowder, Pots (etc.) to Africa

–       Slaves to Americas

 

African Side

•          Most raiding in Congo and Niger basins

–       In the West strong African states: Benin, Dahomey, Ashanti took the slaves and sold them to Europeans

•      Shifted power from center to coast

•      Forced all groups to arm, lest they be taken – to get arms, they took slaves themselves

•      Wydah was fully African controlled, Europeans limited in movements

–     Island of Sao Tome, Bunce major export centers

–       In the East from Upper Congo via Arab caravan to Red Sea & Indian Ocean (Kilwa, Zanzibar)

•     Continuation of early Arab involvement in slave trade

•      Ports, towns, economy grew up to serve the caravans, which also smuggled ivory

•      Swahili emerged as lingua franca of slave trade in East Africa

 

The European End of the Trade

•          Asiento was a monopoly right to sell slaves to Spanish colonies

–       Held by Spanish, Portuguese, French and British merchants over time

–       British get involved about 1660

•      Liverpool, Royal Adventurers gained wealth through slave trade

•          Sugar Plantations in Caribbean and Brazil leading destinations

–       U.S. a smaller destination

–       Britain once considered trading Canada for St. Dominque (Haiti) b/c it was so profitable

•          Trade ended in 1807 by British

–        Slavery Ended: 1833 British Empire; 1863 U.S., 1895 Brazil

 

Slave Trade Consequences

–       45 Million captured in Africa, 15 million (1/3) arrived in Americas

•      1/3 died between home and slave port; 1/3 died in Middle Passage

•      Took until 1900 for pop. in W. Africa to recover

–       Personal toll on enslaved: separated from home, family, even those who spoke the same languages

–       De-population of Africa

•      Shifted the geography—coastal focus

–       African populations of the Americas and subsequent economic and social inequalities

–       Generated enormous wealth for those involved in Europe & New World

•      Sale of people into bondage

•      Income from the labor of slaves

•      Re-Investment in Industry, Banking and Insurance